Scenic Area Introduction

1. Company Profile

Diqing Shangri-La Cultural Development Co., Ltd. was established in April 2006, with a registered capital of 50 million yuan. The legal representative is Yang Cangsong. The company is composed of Diqing Prefecture Tourism Group Co., Ltd. (investing 46.5 million yuan, holding 93% of the shares) and Sichuan Gama Boxiu Snow Art Cultural Development Co., Ltd. (investing 3.5 million yuan, holding 7% of the shares).

The Shangri-La Kalachakra Cultural Expo Center operated by the company adheres to the in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thoughts on strengthening and improving ethnic work, with the main line of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation. It deeply implements the plan to promote exchanges and integration among various ethnic groups through tourism, striving to create a model scenic area for ethnic unity and progress in Diqing in the new era. On December 4, 2023, it was named as one of the "Third Batch of Ethnic Unity and Progress Demonstration Units" by the Diqing Prefectural Committee and the People's Government. On May 18, 2024, the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Museum awarded the Shangri-La Kalachakra Cultural Expo Center the title of "Diqing Prefectural Museum Shangri-La Tibetan Culture Museum Branch," jointly promoting Tibetan culture and multi-ethnic culture, becoming an important platform for promoting and publicizing Shangri-La culture, and serving as an important window for helping people understand, recognize, and love various ethnic cultures.

The main building has a total of 11 floors and is approximately 60 meters high. The Shangri-La Kalachakra Hall has a rich collection with numerous cultural relics, including the largest indoor Kalachakra Vajra statue in China and the largest indoor three-dimensional Kalachakra mandala in the world. To date, there are about 2,000 items in the collection, including one national first-class cultural relic, 14 second-class cultural relics, and 24 third-class cultural relics.

The first floor serves as a reception center and an exhibition hall for ethnic products. Floors three to nine contain twenty exhibition halls showcasing Shangri-La Tibetan culture. The tenth floor is a scripture hall, and the eleventh floor is a treasure hall. The exhibition halls house nearly 2,000 cultural relics from Tibet, over 1,600 Thangkas, including 81 Class A Thangkas, 600 Class B Thangkas, and 627 Class C Thangkas. It is a comprehensive cultural scenic area that focuses on showcasing Tibetan culture.

The entire building expresses the Tibetan cultural concept of "colorful unity and tranquil nature," with details reflecting the Tibetan people's humanistic spirit of "movement within stillness and seeking tranquility through movement." The architectural appearance is ancient and solemn, overall noble and grand, highlighting the cultural content of Shangri-La's benevolent land while drawing inspiration from architectural cultures across Tibet. The interior decoration varies in style according to function, presenting an overall mysterious depth.

The overall positioning presents a legendary paradise that people yearn for—Shangri-La—alongside the contemporary world as described by American writer James Hilton under the pseudonym "Shangri-La." Through integrating and refining Tibetan culture, it enriches exhibition content with high-quality cultural art works that highlight Shangri-La's thematic characteristics, merging mystery and brilliance into one to create a unique, profound ethnic cultural museum worth revisiting.

After its establishment, the company aims to build a harmonious socialist society with "ecological state governance, cultural prosperity, and industrial strength" as its strategic guiding ideology. It fully leverages the influence of the "Shangri-La" brand in developing tourism and driving local economic development. The company mainly focuses on grasping future leadership in the large Shangri-La cultural tourism circle while actively creating momentum for Shangri-La culture. It strives to build a center for developing Tibetan ethnic culture and arts (including dance, music, film and television, clothing, food essence), an exchange center, a research center while developing a cultural industry that has social impact and economic benefits with certain influence both domestically and internationally.

2. Major Achievements of the Company

1. In August 2014, 175 hand-painted Tibetan medicine Thangkas from the collection of Shangri-La Kalachakra were certified as Guinness World Records in Shanghai. These hand-painted works are based on content from Tibetan medical classics "Four Medical Classics," depicting physiological pathology trees, Medicine Buddha mandalas, diagnostic trees, treatment trees, anatomy studies, embryology studies, edible medicinal materials among others—175 Thangkas in total—detailing the profound depth of Tibetan medicine.

2. In August 2014, a pure handmade Tibetan Kalachakra Vajra statue from the collection was certified as Guinness World Records in Shanghai. This statue features four heads with twelve arms made from pure copper with gold plating on its surface; it was crafted by Tibetan folk artisans measuring 20.5 meters tall at its highest point with a width of 13.4 meters at its widest point and thickness of 7.5 meters weighing about 20 tons internally housing approximately four tons of items including scriptures, gold-silver jewelry, medicinal materials, sacred objects, silk fabrics as well as daily utensils.

3. On March 12, 2015, within the Shangri-La Kalachakra project’s three-dimensional mandala was recognized as currently the largest scale and most exquisite three-dimensional mandala in the world setting a world record for "the largest three-dimensional mandala."

4. On June 21, 2015, an exhibition featuring 1,699 Thangkas broke Guinness World Records; these exhibited Thangkas included themes such as Tibetan human origins, Shangri-La Kingdoms, Bon religion in Tibet; Four Medical Classics; biographies of masters from eight major sects of Tibetan Buddhism; biographies of various Dalai Lamas; biographies of Panchen Lamas; biographies related to Sakya Pandita; biographies related to Shakyamuni Buddha; all deities within Kalachakra mandalas along with various protectors—these Thangkas were exquisitely made with diverse styles vividly showcasing Tibetan culture history and religious beliefs.

5. On May 28, 2015, His Holiness Eleventh Panchen Lama Erdeni Qijijiebu personally named it "Shangri-La Kalachakra Three-Dimensional Mandala," giving Yunnan Diqing an extraordinarily auspicious hall. Shangri-La is an ideal kingdom for rebirth; Kalachakra Mandala is one of its symbols.

6. On October 9, 2020, Shangri-La Kalachakra Scenic Area successfully applied for national AAA-level tourist attraction status.